A frente de pesquisa na literatura sobre a produtividade dos autores

The research front of a sub-area of bibliometrics: the authors’ productivity, also known as the “Lotka’s law”, was analyzed. The authors who make up the research front of this field were identified. These authors have produced 10 or more articles, qualifying them as the major producers, although in some cases as moderate producers. They all have their works published in English, and the vast majority of them in journals of the so-called "principal current”, that is journals indexed by the Science Citation Index or the Social Science Citation Index. Covariation between author’s levels of productivity, articles published in journals of "principal current”, language of publication, and frequency of citations were observed. In other words, to qualify as being in the research front of a discipline the author has to be a great or moderate producer, publish in English and in journals considered in the mainstream. Outside this context, the use of the information in he form of citations is reduced to a local consumption.